I just installed Mint 12 and Compiz. It seems that the workspaces function of gnome 2 are not integrated with the compiz workspaces. I.e., they are separate, and compiz only uses workspace #1Behavior:* All windows show as workspace 1 in the iconized view in the lower right gnome panel* Window menu to move between workspaces (alt-tab) does not do anything. * If you use multiple gnome workspaces -- you really confuse yourself!

So the workaround is to not specify multiple workspaces for gnome.

Any other ideas?

UPDATE: Once I set the max to 1 in the gnome setting, the panel widget work properly. I guess the fix should be to somehow disable the user from putting more than 1 if using compiz.